And Soon the Darkness

And Soon the Darkness is a 1970 British thriller film directed by Robert Fuest and starring Pamela Franklin, Michele Dotrice and Sandor Elès. The plot follows two British nurses on a cycling holiday in rural France; during their trip, one of them vanishes, and the other struggles to search for her in a rural community.

For the 2010 film, see And Soon the Darkness (2010 film).

And Soon the Darkness
Film poster
Directed byRobert Fuest
Produced by
Written by
Starring
Music byLaurie Johnson
Production
company
Distributed byWarner-Pathé
Release date
  • 4 July 1970 (1970-07-04)
Running time
94 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£260,000[1]

It was the first movie made under Bryan Forbes at EMI Films to be released (Hoffman had been made first but was released later).[1]

Plot

Jane and Cathy are two young nurses from Nottingham who are taking a cycling holiday through rural France. While having lunch at a busy restaurant, Cathy notices a handsome man drinking alone at an adjacent table. Shortly after the women depart, the man also leaves the cafe on a Lambretta scooter. On a country road surrounded by farmland, the women are passed by the man on his scooter. Several minutes later, the women pass by him as he rests by a cemetery.

As the women pass through a small village, they encounter the man again. Cathy, who has grown tired of cycling, decides she wants to sunbathe, and stops at a wooded area along the road. Jane agrees to rest momentarily, but the two women get into an argument over the trip itinerary, and Jane decides to continue on alone. Jane soon arrives at a rural roadside cafe, where the proprietor, Madame Lassal, warns her that the area is dangerous and that she should not be travelling alone. Meanwhile, Cathy, still sunbathing, becomes unnerved and senses she is being watched. Upon trying to leave, she finds that someone has destroyed the wheel of her bicycle. Moments later, she is confronted by an unseen assailant.

Feeling guilty over leaving Cathy behind, Jane returns to the spot where she was sunbathing. She finds no sign of Cathy, apart from her camera lying in the grass. Moments later, the man the women saw earlier at the restaurant stops along the road on his scooter. He introduces himself as Paul, and Jane explains to him that she is looking for Cathy. Paul offers Jane a ride back to the village, where she believes Cathy may have gone. While questioning locals in town, Jane learns of an unsolved rape and murder of a young woman that occurred in the town the year before. Meanwhile, Paul rides into the woods on his scooter to search for Cathy.

Jane encounters a British schoolmistress in town who drives her part-way to meet the gendarme and report Cathy's disappearance. En route, the schoolmistress tells Jane the unsolved murder occurred in the same wooded area from which Cathy vanished. Unable to locate the gendarme, Jane returns to the roadside cafe and asks Madam Lassal for help, but she again urges Jane to leave the area. Jane again encounters Paul, who reveals he is a private investigator who researched the case of the murdered woman. The two get into an argument when Jane discovers Paul has taken the film from Cathy's camera as evidence. Convinced he has hurt Cathy, Jane parts ways with him.

Running through the town on foot, Jane finally locates the residence of the gendarme, and explains what has occurred. The gendarme goes to investigate the scene, leaving Jane alone at his residence. Paul arrives at the house, but Jane refuses to open the door. When he breaks into the gendarme's home, Jane flees into the woods, where she stumbles upon an abandoned trailer park. While hiding in a camper, Jane finds Cathy's corpse. Paul manages to corner Jane in the woods, but she beats him in the face with a rock. At the edge of the abandoned trailer park, Jane finds the gendarme. As she embraces him, the gendarme begins to fondle her sexually. He begins to attack her, revealing himself to be the perpetrator. Jane attempts to fend him off, and is rescued by an injured Paul, who hits the gendarme with a large branch.

Cast

Production

The film was directed by Robert Fuest, and made by the same production team that had recently completed the television series The Avengers. The screenplay was written by Brian Clemens and Terry Nation, both of whom had contributed to The Avengers, as well as to several ITC crime series made in Britain. It was also scored by Avengers theme composer Laurie Johnson.

It was one of the first films made under Bryan Forbes at EMI Films.[2] It was shot entirely in France.[1]

Reception

Box office

The film did moderately well at the box-office on both sides of the Atlantic, but was not a big success.[3]

Clemens was involved in producing and storyboarding the film, and said it inspired him to try directing. He later commented, "My business partner (Albert Fennell) said 'You should have directed it' and suddenly I thought 'Yeah, perhaps I should have done'. I knew I could have directed it better." He went on to write what became See No Evil for Forbes at EMI; after Forbes left the company the film was made at Columbia. Clemens eventually turned director with Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter.[4]

Critical

The film was also not received particularly well critically. Time Out called it "nasty",[5] and The New York Times said it displayed "poverty of imagination".[6] The British film critic Leslie Halliwell noted that it had "some pretension to style".[7]

DVD

The film was released as a DVD in the US with an audio commentary by Fuest and Clemens, and released in the UK as a region 2 DVD at the end of January 2008.

Remake

An American remake of the film was released in 2010.[8]

References
  1. Moody, Paul (2018). EMI Films and the Limits of British Cinema. Palgrave MacMillan. p. 27.
  2. AND SOON THE DARKNESS Monthly Film Bulletin; London Vol. 37, Iss. 432, (Jan 1, 1970): 162.
  3. City comment: Soon the darkness The Guardian (1959-2003) [London (UK)] 08 Mar 1971: 12.
  4. "The Avengers" writer on directing for TV and film and un-made vampire films". John Fleming.
  5. Time Out website review
  6. Greenspun, Roger (5 April 1971). "Screen: 2 British Girls: 'And Soon the Darkness' Opens at 2 Theaters". The New York Times.
  7. Halliwell's Film Guide entry
  8. AFM '09: First Look at 'And Soon the Darkness' Remake
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